Das Schicksal
by Haruka Hiasobi
Summary: Sometimes even the strongest will need help. Good help however is hard to find, especially if you're not sure if you can trust it to not shoot you in the back. (BxS,others coming soon.) the real C9.
1. Ein Neues Mitglied

Mission #1: Ein Neues Mitglied

The closing hour of the 'Koneko no sumu ie' had arrived. Aya was putting a last hand to the account book, while Omi was moving all the plants inside the shop. Ken was helping one last customer, while Yohji of course was flirting with a few of his fans. Just another day for the four guys one would think. Fate however had different plans. 

Just as Ken was pulling down the grille after their last customer just left, a red haired young man stepped into the shop. "Surimasen, but we are closing now. Please come back la…" 

"Nan da, Ken? Did you see a ghost or something? " Yohji asked and joined Ken on examining the stranger. 

The guy stepped into the lights, being helpful to his spectators. He stood slightly shorter than Aya, slender and yet muscular. His simple outfit consisted of a plain pair of black jeans and a simple black shirt, but dressing down didn't hide the presence he radiated. A presence that would have made him stand out of any crowd. His long crimson red hair, dancing wildly and challenging, was tied into a ponytail. Mocking eyes stared from underneath a curtain of red bangs. His face bore an amused smile, waiting for the examination to be over. Though it wasn't a wildly   
handsome face, the eyes caught you, dark as night, darkness that would   
swallow you whole if looked into for too long.

"Konbanwa Weiß. Apparently, we are having ourselves a redheads' reunion here." He grinned at Aya. 

Aya was the first one to react, or rather, attack. He tackled the stranger and held the account book pen against his throat. 

"Who are you?!" hissed Aya, while grabbing onto the other's collar. 

"Hold it, tiger. I dun think being doodled to death is a great way to go!" The stranger held his hands in front to show Aya. " See? I don't have any weapons." 

"Ja matta ne, Abyssinian!" 

"Manx!" 

The assistant came into the shop, looking fabulous in her new yellow suit. Red and black stripes ran down the front and back of the suit. A black belt hugged her slender waist. 

Aya released his prisoner, with much detest. One could only guess what would happen the moment Manx leaves. 

The stranger slowly stood up and grinned sheepishly. 

"Boku wa Sky." He held out his hand to Aya and earned a cold glare as response. "Wow, touchy. Konbanwa Omi, Yohji and Ken!" Sky greeted the other members of the team. 

Handshakes, quite hesitantly and unwilling, were exchanged. Yohji was the bright one who popped up with the one million-dollar question. "Who are you? You look umm familiar"

"Meet Yozora. He will be your newest team member." Manx answered.

"Nani?!" Came the response out of three very much shocked and one very irritated person.

Five minutes later, the five guys and Manx had gathered in the basement where an explanation was given.

"This is Yozora as I have said" 

"Call me Sky!" Yozora grinned. 

Manx looked irritated at the interruption, but resumed her story. "As I have said. He will be the new member of Weiß. There's an empty apartment next to Aya's. He will be living there from now on." 

"Why? We don't need a new member." Aya simply stated. 

"You are not being given any choice on whether or not to infiltrate him in your group." Manx said snippily, and she told the story that was to be given to the outside world, in order to explain the sudden appearance of Sky, that is. 

"I think she looks a lot better in that yellow suit, than the old red one, ne Yohji?" whispered Sky. 

"You bet, it brings out her *cough* feminism a lot better" 

"Yohji! Sky!" Manx rolled her eyes as the two grinned at her. 

"We're just bonding, baby!" 

"Whatever,Sky! Now. I have business to attend. Since there isn't any assignment today, you can take this opportunity to get familiar with each other." Manx was already about to open the door, when she turned and said:" One more thing, he's telepathic and telekinetic." 

And with those words she left the five guys to 'bond' or rather…trying to bond….

__

And then they all became good friends and lived happily ever after and… *gets whacked on the head by Yohji and stares into a VERY pissed Aya * Or not…

***************************************************************************

The basement was silent and remained that way for ages after her words. Actually it was like a min, but it DID seem like ages for me. All the others were staring at me and I was starting to feel uncomfortable under their gazes. "Am I wearing anything of you guys?" 

Silence. Ok…no sense of humor. "Look. I promise I won't go make things fly around. And it is true that I can read your mind and control it, but it doesn't mean I'll be doing it…not really at least. It takes a lot of energy to actually mess in someone else's mind. How about if I promise not to do that?" 

More silence. Great, really great.

"You look familiar." 

Well…the good news was that Aya broke the silence and actually talked. The bad was…well everything, I suppose. I didn't even need to read his mind, just to know that he was ready to grab his katana or any other sharp object at hand and do some serious dissection job on me. What the heck is this guy's problem? 

"I've been told that a lot of times. Personally, I think I look more like T.M.Revolution than anyone else" 

Some grumbles, some snickers. Gee, ain't they just a happy bunch. "Now, how about I go to my room and let you people talk? See ya all lata." I gave them one of my brilliant smiles and left. Things would be interesting from now on. Weiß, be prepared for tornado Sky. 

**************************************************************************

Aya looked puzzled at the disappearing figure of their supposedly new member. The new guy seemed somehow familiar. Long red hair, running wild. A smile that provoked the world. His instinct told him to keep an eye. He had learned to trust his gut feeling. In the line of the business he was in, sometimes, all you got was instinct. It could mean the difference between life or death. So if and when the new one struck, at least he should be prepared.

**************************************************************************

11:18 am. Would it be time to get up? Oh well.. I'll just stay in a little longer. 

The room was simple. A simple white bed, a white lamp. I could describe the color of the room with one word: white. Great..I know they're called Weiß, but isn't this just a BIT exaggerated? How comfy… I sighed.

My new team members were just SO fucking friendly, particularly that redhead. I wonder how they'll react if I told them that I scanned all their minds the moment I stepped into the shop. 

First of all we had the sentimental sucker mister Hidaka Ken. He was a cool guy, nothing from there. Too much of a goody two shoe's for me. A kind character matching a kind appearance, defender of the weak, a big brother for the kids. Just mister perfect. He sure trusted one easily. The guy apparently did not learn from his mistakes. 

Next we had Kudo Yohji. Now he most definitely was my kind of man! Carefree, a fellow appreciater of the female species. We sure had a lot in common. Maybe we'd become great friends. Hey! You never know, ne? He could hide all he wanted behind that charming smile of his, but there was little you could hide from a telepath. 

Omi or rather Taketori Mamoru. A child that had seen more death and experienced more then a lot of old men or women. His mind was a bit…..clouded. Broken images. He seemed to have experienced some trauma or something. 

Maybe I should go dig deeper when I have the time. The jumpy, happy 16-year- old who seemed to be the one is keeping the group together in his unique way. Totally opposite to someone else…a certain redhead.

Aya…. Or was it Ran? I wouldn't know. In a way he was both, I guess. I could already imagine the fun I'll have, digging into his mind and maybe more. The guy obviously was the king of mockery. Did he fall into a pit of grouchiness or something? He did have a good reason for it, I guess. Hell, I could have turned out like him! Lucky me!

He obviously forgot the last time we met. Interesting.

I wondered what they were doing in the shop. They spent most of last night talking. Probably the whole night. I wasn't curious enough to eavesdrop any longer than 5 minutes. Besides, I already knew what the subject of their 'meeting' was. The newcomer, me. 

They seemed puzzled why mister cathead Persia, or rather his replacement, would assign them a new member. Suggestions such as.. maybe I was just another test for their loyalty or maybe I was supposed to watch their moves etc. etc. were made. These people really did have a trust issue! I mean, couldn't a new member just be a new member?? 

It's not like I actually volunteered to join their pathetic group. It was more like an either this or jail situation for me.

Oh well… Might as well get downstairs and continue my integration process. 

I put on the jeans and T-shirt. A little rummaging through the pockets. 

Keys to my apartment, some small pieces of paper, my ring and my wallet. This was everything I owned at the present moment. Hmm… I needed to go on a shopping trip today. The check I got from Manx was hardly anywhere near enough, but I guess I could buy something. I splashed some cold water on my face, put on my ring, ran a hand through my hair and went out. 

When I arrived at the shop, there was quite a crowd both inside and outside the shop. Apparently there were four fan clubs. The Yo-tan fanclub, apparently the largest one, was crowded around their idol. A smaller crowd consisting of Ken-fans besieged KenKen, while another surrounded a scolding Aya. Outside there was the Omi-chan fan club, apparently on the look-out for any signs of Omi. Interesting. Maybe I should get a fan club too. 

I flashed a brilliant smile at the crowd outside and immediately I became the subject to talk about. Wow, those chicks must be horny. The fan club establishment sure wont take long. I was busy scanning a girl's fantasy about her and a certain redhead, when out of the blue a white apron landed in my face accompanied by the single word "work". Three guesses who threw the damn thing. It's NOT like we actually needed the money, why do we have to work?! 

I walked to the counter where he was occupied with arranging one of those fancy and expensive flower arrangements. Hmmm……. Change of plans. I actually put on the apron, which was surprisingly brand new, and gave Aya a big smile. "Why Aya! That arrangement looks absolutely beau-ti-ful! You must have won prizes!" I said sarcastically. 

"Water the plants." Was his cold reply. How I just love his commands! I rolled my eyes.

After three hours, I was a professional flower man. I watered the damn flowers for three hours! Three freaking hours! I could have done it in a min with my powers, but I'm not allowed to do it since the flower shop is a cover up. My mood was definitely improved though, when Omi came home. The fact that he came home was nothing much to be really happy about. The fact a huge crowd of girls came along with him was a brightening factor. Especially since they also established the Sky fan club by the end of the afternoon. I was happy and pretty proud to say that my fan club was as big as Yohji's, if not even bigger. With a little help from my outstanding flirting skills of course and a little touch of telepathy.

Girls were like kittens. You gave them a taste of what they wanted and they'd follow you around till you gave them more. Compliments for the one, a small kiss for the other…

And being a telepath came in handy at times such as this. Their wishes and desires were so superficial that anyone who knew how to look, would see it practically written on their faces.

6pm. I nonchalantly threw the apron in a corner, announced that I was leaving and began my assignment: To shop till I've used every cent I had. Mission accomplished after two hours of hopping from one shop to another, since I had to actually buy EVERYTHING. 

I snuggled a little deeper in the collar of my new leather jacket and started to head back to my apartment. 

People seemed to walk faster. Some men were hurrying home to their wife and children after a long day of work. Couples were hurrying to their favorite restaurants, the theater or another such kind of entertainment place. Whether they're young, old, men or women, they were all hurrying. Were they afraid of the night? Afraid of the things that might happen to them in the dark? 

A flash of orange hair disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. I called out his name. There was no response. I hurried to the direction, but the only thing I found was more disappointment. It was just my screwed up mind playing tricks with me again or could it…? Naw. 

I laughed at myself. I laughed so hard, other pedestrians were staring at me like I was nuts. I wanted to break down in sobs, but instead I just laughed.

The wind grew silent as the night grew colder. 

***************************************************************************

A few hundred miles away a private jet just landed on the ground. Several minutes later, a middle-aged man stepped out, followed by his bodyguards. His Japanese secretary, a seductive woman with long purple eyes and matching eyes, greeted him. She started to inform him, speaking English fluently. "Mister Yamoto, the mansion has been prepared like you ordered. A meeting of the elders will take place in about two hours and here are the files you asked for." 

He leafed through the files. "Arigatou Mina. Do you know their whereabouts?" 

She answered in Japanese, following his lead."Yes, sir. They are in Nara. But since they're moving around a lot, it is a bit difficult to pinpoint exactly where they are at the moment." 

"Find out where they are within the next 24 hours and get them on the first plane available. That would be all. Now, let us go to the meeting."

"Hai."

A new member, a new arrival. Time of turmoil and changes had arrived. Once it was started…. Nothing could stop it…

TBC

"The art of loving is keeping it."


	2. Der erste Auftrag

Mission #2: Der erste Auftrag

__

Children's laughter. Such a sweet sound. It could bring the worries away. How familiar this sound was. 

Two boys ran after each other. They were laughing in their chase. 

A pretty little girl, their little sister was trying to catch up with the two. But in her attempt she tripped and fell. She scratched her knee and she cried. A sound that could break a heart, no matter how cold it wa. Or so I thought. 

I reached out to the girl. I wanted to hug her and comfort her. But my hands were like those of a ghost, it went right through her and caught empty air. 

Her two brothers had come back for her. One picked her up and held her in his arms, talking to her softly. The other offered her a lollypop. She took it and smiled sweetly. Her smile warmed my heart. I smiled.

Suddenly the weather changed. The rain was pouring down. Someone screamed. A child's scream. It was so loud and heartbreaking. 

Blood, so much blood! I wanted to yell no. The only sound was a deafening scream.

I opened my eyes and closed them again. The sun stood high. Too much light. Must buy new curtains. 

I shifted uncomfortably in the sheets. They were soaked with sweat. I pressed my hands against my ears, trying to stop the sound, remnant of the scream. A futile action. After all, how could you stop something that came of some deep and dark part of your own mind? I tried to concentrate on the sound of cars outside. Morning rush hour. All the nice little folks hurrying to their jobs, thinking boring and angry thoughts. They were not distracting me from the sound in my head. Damn. The sound would eventually disappear. It always would. Slowly. Agonizingly slow.

Wednesday. The second day I worked as a flower man. I was starting to enjoy the flowers, no matter how ridiculous this might sound. I enjoyed their scent, their color, their aura. They were innocent, they were pure, they were white. 

Weiss. I wondered who named us Weiss. We may be in charge of defending the innocents, but we were all far from being innocent ourselves. Blood stained our hands. Blood of the guilty ones perhaps, but blood nonetheless. 

The day went away normally so far. Think idiotic thoughts, checking out the girls, flirt with the girls, take a break, flirt some more with girls, water the plants, flirt, break, flirt, break, flirt and so on.

At 4pm the sound of a music box sounded softly through the shop. We, loyal and good doggies, immediately dropped everything we were doing and went to the basement. Beware, those who would anger Manx! 

"Hi baby" I greeted the pretty feline. She looked disapprovingly at me, like a strict mother when her child had done something bad. I gave her a sheepish grin. She shrugged and went right down to business. The word 'chill' apparently did not exist in her vocabulary.

"Mina Kamui. She owns an agency for secretaries." She threw a picture on the small table. 

I whistled. Yohji did the same. Hey, I couldn't help myself! My hormones led their own life. Yohji's probably did the same. Besides, the picture was worth a praise or two. The woman WAS a babe. She looked like Aphrodite herself with her long purple hair and shining bright blue eyes. 

I waved the picture in front of Manx. I wanted to see more piccies. One with target in a bathing suit preferably.

"Hey, is this everything???? You disappoint me! I thought missions always came with movies."

Manx looked at me with something part anger and annoyance. I grinned. Hey! I asked a perfect fine question. Of course I already knew the answer. My fellow assassins had had this situation more than once. I just wanted to see how she would react. 

"All the information you need are in the files. We're not running a movie theater here."

I raised an eyebrow and waited. Nothing. She was going to just evade the question. Hm. Guess she wasn't going to tell me that she didn't have any fancy pictures to show since this mission was composed on a very short notice. Kritikers didn't have time to collect enough pics for a clip. Afraid to undermine the abilities of her watchers, eh?

"Since when is it illegal to own an agency?" I asked, deciding to let it go. I was going to like it here if all our targets looked so damn good. Hell, I'd be in heaven!

Manx just rolled her eyes and continued. "The secretaries only work for major drug lords in the world. Target will be attending this ball tonight. The mission would be to copy her agenda without her notice. Is everyone in?" 

She let her eyes do a survey around the room. 

Ken shrugged. Being an easygoing guy as he was, he didn't turn down a lot of mission. Omi was practically obliged to tag along. After all he was the only one with the required skill. Aya just did it for the money. I pulled Yohji up and danced the tango with him. 

"We are going to party tonight, Yotan!" 

"You bet we are, Sky!"

8pm. I disliked Aya a lot. In fact, I was considering to put him on my list of people I hate. He totally ruined my beautiful once in a lifetime chance! I'm furious. Me, Sky, the great womanizer going around acting like a waiter, while Yohji would be having all the fun? No fair! I mean, who made him boss anyway?! 

__

Our great leader just said with his dispassionate voice "Yohji, Sky. Only one of you can infiltrate into the guests and distract the target. The other is needed to act like a waiter." 

The simple gesture of flipping a coin. Guess who the lucky guy was? Right. 

I could feel blood boiling inside of me. Probably wouldn't have freaked out if I came out as the winner. But still.

"Why don't YOU go do that yourself?!"

"I'll be outside on the look-out" he simply stated. 

So here I was. Bringing drinks around for these rich snobs, wearing a waiter apron instead of a shining tuxedo. I wonder if Persia or whoever was replacing him would mind it too much, if I killed Aya. He would probably hate it. 

Yohji was already busy flirting with the target. Gee, he sure lost no time over it. Ken was my companion in this misery, although he didn't seem to mind it half as much as I did. If he did, he wasn't showing it. Omi, the lucky kid, only had to wait in some room for us to steal the purse… 

Actually, it would be borrow rather than steal. Yohji was leading the target to a small table, our sign to start the performance. 

Not only did I get a lousy job, I also got the pretty hate-able part too. I was to ruin this gorgeous lady's lovely orange dress. I, the clumsy waiter, would *accidentally* spill a glass of wine on her dress. She was on the brink of tears when it happened. Everybody knew how wine stains were almost impossible to get out and how lovely the dress was. How cliché. 

Yohji, being the perfect gentleman, scolded the clumsy waiter. Made mental note. Get even with him later. 

After that, the scolding monsieur just HAD to hold and comfort the poor mademoiselle. And with a long passionate kiss being a great way to do it, Yohji did his duties. Ken in the meanwhile quickly exchanged the purses and brought it to the boy genius. 

Why wasn't Ken doing my job and me doing his, you would ask. You would think that Kenken would be the perfect candidate, since he was clumsy enough all on his own. The problem was that our leader Aya there wanted me to be the distraction. He mentioned something about me being too conspicuous. Who? Me? Nah. I blended in the crowd perfectly with my long hair and attitude, while the rest of the waiters were lambs and had short typical Japanese colored brown/ black hair. He figured that the people in charge of the place would be keeping an eye on me and watching my every move. I would have never managed to slip away unnoticed. It did make sense. But I'd rather die than admit that in his face. 

There came the manager who organized the ball. He just couldn't lay it off. He just had to go yell at me for being clumsy. I smiled pleasantly at him. He blinked, looking puzzled. He was trying to decide whether I was plain old dumb or really desperate to keep the job. Guess I'd just have to show him how dumb or desperate I was. 

His mind was a very open and boring book actually. It was a child's play to tear just a tiny amount of papers out of that book. He wouldn't be causing much trouble now, just be a little dumb. The effect would wear off eventually, in a month or two. Probably. The hell with the headache I'd most likely get the next morning. 

By the time I was finished, Ken came back with the purse. He gave a quick glance at the still form of the manager sitting in the chair staring outside. 

"What happened to him?" He asked. 

"Nothing. Nothing at all. He's just enjoying the pleasant evening and resting." I said, smiling pleasantly.

"Doubt Aya'll like it." Eyebrow raised.

"Of course, Ken. But who'se gonna tell?" I patted on his shoulder. "You just do your job like a good little boy and I'll do mine. Duty calls." I left flashing a grin. Ken was amused, but he still disapproved. Lucky for me, he didn't disapprove it enough to hand me over to Aya. 

I really did have a job to finish. Me, the unfortunate one, had to accomplish the other half of my miserable mission. I, accidentally as always, spilled a cup of tomato soup on the target. Good news was that the soup was cold. At least she won't be spending the rest of the evening in ER. 

The bad one was that now the dress will definitely be ruined. If the wine stain didn't do the trick already, this certainly would. The babe this time actually burst down in tears. Not very surprising, I suppose. Her small shoulders shook with choking sobs. 

I hated to see a woman cry. I liked to see myself as a man who made women smile or blush, not cry. Sometimes, I suspected that there was some international conspiracy against all men. Let's cry, so we could get what we want! That's one of the reasons why I vowed never to give in, even when they cry. Me, tough! At least I try.

More scolding from Yohji, that he would see to it that I will never find a job again in this town, yada yada yada. And of course this all ended with a big comfort from the everly still perfect gentleman Yohji. He wrapped an arm around her protectively and gave me his best-forged angry glare. He strategically turned her so that no one besides me and him could see Ken quickly exchanging the purses again. 

Ah gee, it was really a damn miracle that his pants were still on. After all, what kind of better comfort was there than to screw the woman out of her mind? 

'_Yo-tan. We are STILL on a mission, ya know? She IS the target.' _

'Sky, get the fuck out of my mind! NOW!! I KNOW what I'm doing!'

'Yeah right. Just make sure you don't ruin the stupid mission.'

'Yare yare.'

"Hey Omi, can I read the agenda?" It would take another hour to get back to the apartment and I was in the mood of reading. Not that this happened a lot. It actually almost never happened, but I was curious. 

Shrug. That could happen, ne? 

The fact that I was blessed with such quiet companions did help though. Boredom might have played a role too. 

Aya and Ken were both absorbed in their own little worlds. Omi was quietly staring into the sky. Each thinking their own thoughts. A sort of a ritual. I guess. 

Yohji somehow mysteriously disappeared, after checking on us really quick. He also murmured something vague about having forgot something at the party. My guesses would be a certain purplehaired woman. 

"Sure." Omi flickered on his laptop and within a sec he found the file. Child-Genius. I already took like hours to find the folder My Documents, let alone some file that was located among thousands of other files. 

Hmm… Let's see. Diners, parties, meetings, yada yada yada. Nothing special. Just some drug transfers, some elimination's. Nothing that was uncommon for the regular life of a crime boss. Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, New York….. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

Hey! This is the personal file section of the babe! I wonder if she kept a secret diary or something. I always say that it's never superfluous to study the thoughts and deepest desires of women. Of course I already studied a lot, reading their minds and all. Still, there was always something more to learn, ne?

Apparently she was a secretary herself. But she only seemed to work for… 

I almost dropped the laptop. My eyes widened with surprise. I checked it twice, but there was no mistake. He came to Japan! I practically threw the laptop back to Omi. I would probably have crushed it or done something else to it, if I had it any longer in my hands. 

The beating of my heart quickened. The warmth of the circulating blood tinged my skin red. Luckily, darkness concealed me. Nevertheless, Omi seemed to have sensed something amiss. 

"Daijobu, Sky?" His big blue eyes looked at me questioning. 

"Daijobu, little one."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I patted his head absently. No need to worry the nice folks now. 

It wasn't a very uncommon name. It must be some odd coincidence. Just relax and take a deep breath. I did it and it didn't help. Shit. 

I remained silent for the rest of the trip. I looked out the highway. Cars were flashing before me, just like memories were. A never ending stream.

Until I finally drifted into sleep at crack of dawn, only one word tossed around and around in my head… Yamoto. 

TBC

"Et tu, Brutus! how could you?! I considered you my son. I even gave you a house as gift. Still you gave me a false social security number just like the rest of them."


	3. Sie sind angekommen

Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews!! My heart always goes 'doki doki' when I see them! ^^

As for Necremancer 9's question: Maybe. Wait and see?

Mission #3: Sie sind angekommen

__

Laughter. Children's laughter. Long blond hair, framing a small body. A red summer dress. Her laughter, her smile. Sweet. 

A Scream. Blood. Darkness. Darkness that will swallow you whole. Loneliness…

Rays of sunlight shone directly into my eyes. I threw the blanket over my head, snuggling deeper into the blankets in an attempt to escape the annoying sun. The headache however decided that I was conscious enough to hit me hard and fast. Shit. Times like this made me hate my powers and wish the sun would never rise again. 

I splashed ice cold water on my face and searched through the closet, hoping to find the little white bottle that would put an end to my misery. Lady luck wasn't smiling upon me. The blue boards stared at me empty. Lovely.

It was Thursday. So I didn't have to work until 1pm. Maybe I should catch up some of my lost sleep. It sounded tempting. Very tempting.

I lay on the bed and closed my eyes. My head was throbbing. A dull pain. Not enough to let you cry out, but annoying enough to make you want to tear your own head off. The nightmares, or rather the memories, had returned too. I haven't had them for years. My old shrink promised me that they would gradually become vague and disappear as I grow older. To a degree this had been true. I could never forget them, but they had somewhat become distant for the past few years. So the question would be, why were they returning? All polished up and clear as a picture too. Dammit. 

I grunted unhappily. So much for more sleep. This was going to be a LONG day.

My mood today was resembling Aya's. How nice. 

It usually doesn't take much for my mood to turn all spectacularly thunder and lightning. Especially in the morning. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I do belong to the majority of the people who wakes up grumpy, regardless of how much sleep they got the previous day or how inactive their day was. However, a very small asocial group of human beings are actually capable of looking and acting cheerful and energetic in the morning. I got the grim suspicion that our resident hacker belonged to that group. 

The image of Yohji helping himself to tons of coffee greeted me at the door. That cancelled him out. 

"Hey." I murmured. 

Ken was already seated at the breakfast table. Carrying a smile for no particular reason on his face and humming some kind of cup-of-the-world song softly in his head, which I could hear unfortunately. We must not be fooled by his apparent delights in the morning, ladies and gentlemen. If I had had more than ten hours of sleep and a whole day off, I would be a cheerful camper myself. A piece of paper in one hand and chocolate bagel in the other. Something resembling the word 'morning' came out of his chewing mouth. Small crumbs of his food proceeded to fall on the paper, while he reviewed the supposedly big events and changes in the world of sport. Who the fuck gave a damn about what happened in some stupid EPO doping accident? Oh well. I guess you had to feel some sort of connection to that world. 

Omi apparently already left for school. And Aya? Opening the shop, I believe. Not that I cared. Aya isn't a happy person by nature. His constant grumping shrank the chances of him being happy in the morning below zero. If someone like me wakes up being grumpy, you can estimate the killer mood someone like Aya would be in when he wakes up. 

Yohji's eyelids were heavy and he had dark rings under his eyes. His hair was sticking out at different angles. Somebody here sure had a rough night. 

He sat down next Ken and was dozing off. I slapped him very friendly on the shoulder, nowhere near painful of course, and just couldn't stop myself from grinning.

"Good morning, Yotan old pal. You look like hell."

"You ain't looking so hot yourself. Who are you to complain?" He snorted.

I shrugged. True. But still, who said I wasn't allowed to tease?

"Mine is job related. What's your excuse? I don't recall sleeping with the mission was part of our job description." 

"On the contrary, Sky. It was quite necessary and interesting. At least I could get the satisfaction of having some fun while being actually productive, while others had to serve oysters. " 

"Well..no one's gonna complain about you not being thorough then. Would you do the same if mission had been an attractive guy instead??" 

I gave him a wider grin.

Yohji hmphed, positively insulted and decided to ignore me. He was silently wondering if I could pick up the answer to that question if he just didn't think about it. 

Oh well… Don't want to ruin all the fun now. I was very pleased to find out though that the target had quite an imagination. Once again the saying proves itself to be utterly true. Never judge a person by appearances only.

It appeared that our Yohji here was tied up until dawn. I believed that one thing the room didn't lack of was toys. In fact there seemed to be a whole closet of them. Poor Yohji. 

"Hey Ken, do you have any aspirin?"

***************************************************************************

Yamoto Kanryou, 41 year old president of the Yamoto cooperation. He looked young for his age. Most people would estimate him to be in his mid thirties. 

Being an only child, he automatically inherited the cooperation, when his father died 3 years ago. For the past thirty years he had lived in Europe. Now he had come back to the land of his origin, Japan. 

The Yamoto's had been powerful in Europe and the USA, while the Takatori's were powerful in Asia. Now that the leader of the Takatori cooperation was gone, he had come back to expand his powers. He intended to finally incorporate Asia, particularly Japan. And with his almighty opponent weakened, if not removed, he could easily expand his powers. 

He sat in the high leather chair in his personal library and carefully planned out his next moves. Power was after all a delicate matter. 

A knock on the door was heard. 

"Come in." He said.

The door opened and four young men stepped inside. He regarded each of them closely. The boy, Nagi Naoe, was quite deceiving with his delicate looks. The Irishman was fondling with his knife. Madness glittered in one good eye. Then there was the german. The grin. The beautiful high cheekbones. Arrogance. Fascinating. 

"You have asked for us?" The eldest and leader of the group, the black haired American spoke. 

"Yes, Mr. Crawford. I would like to hire Schwarz. You would be my bodyguards during my stay in Japan. You will stay in this mansion and you must be available 24 hours a day. The payment of course will be royal enough to last you a lifetime. " Yamoto stated. 

Schuldich laughed. Yamoto raised an eyebrow at the younger man. 

"It seems your teammate is amused. Would he be so kind to share it with the rest of us?"

Crawford shot an annoyed look at Schuldich and bowed.

"Sumimasen, Mr. Yamoto. He loses himself sometimes. If you would like to punish him for this sign of disrespect, please do."

Yamoto looked at the impassive American and then at the German.

Jade eyes looked at him, challenging.

"Iie. He is not to be punished…for this." 

Needless to say, Crawford accepted the Yamoto's offer. After all, he was excellent in providing his group the most profitable tasks.

The three other members of the group soon left to their respective rooms, while Crawford stayed to receive other details about their jobs and to make arrangements. 

Nagi quickly logged onto the network and resumed hacking some poor banker, while Farfarello was doing his own things or torments rather. Schuldich stepped into the room and settled down already after he took a shower. He zapped through the channels and fell asleep after doing it three hours straight. 

__

Schuldich found himself walking in a park. It was autumn and the wind made the leafs dance in circles. He heard children's laughter. Two boys ran past him. 

A little girl was following them. She tripped over a rock and fell. She wept. The boys came back to comfort her. She smiled an angelic smile. 

The scene changed. The weather was bad. It was storming. Thunder and lightning. It was raining and the rain was red. Then everything darkened like someone had thrown a switch. 

Schuldich screamed. 

Schuldich blinked to adjust his vision. The room bathed in darkness, just like in his dream. He counted to himself and took deep breaths to calm himself down.

Some quick steps down the hall. The door burst open and Crawford rushed inside. He threw on the light switches. Schuldich squeezed his eyes at the sudden raid of light. 

"What the hell were you thinking?! You could have awakened the dead with that scream of yours." Schuldich blinked, finding Crawford's faces only inches from his own. Deep brown eyes were narrowed, but that was the only sign of him being angry. The rest of his face remained expressionless like so often. The only time Crawford would show more signs of being human, would be when he's mean. Or so it seemed to be the case…to the outside world. 

"Aww Bradly Mein Liebchen. You flatter me too much." Schuldich laughed out loud, while Crawford heaved a big sign.

"You know, you just sold us off to an old geezer for a couple of coins." 

"Things aren't cheap, Schuldich. Besides you know our orders."

"Yeah…Well let's go eat!"

He took hold of his leader's arm and dragged the other into the hall, while the last fragments of the dream softly drifted away from him.

After a copious meal Schuldich returned to the room that was going to be his for the next months. With nothing really entertaining to do, sleep claimed him once more.

__

Schuldich was walking in the same park. He knew that he was dreaming and that it was the same dream as he had before. Something deep inside of him was yelling at him, telling him to get away from this particular dream. It knew the sadness and fear. His heart pounded louder and louder. He found himself unable to escape. 

Children's laughter. Two boys and a girl. Her smile. 

Darkness. Thunder and Lightning. A scream, her scream. A silhouette wrapped by a blanket of mist was walking towards him. It slowly lifted and he could clearly see a young man. The young man also looked up and stared at him in return. Dark met Jade. Both screamed and their horrifying cry shattered the image of the girl in fragments.

Schuldich opened his eyes, bewildered while sweat adorned his entire body. He got out of the bed and stumbled to the window. He pushed open the double windows, gasping for air. After a while, his heart rate returned to normal and his breathing slowed. The gentle rays of a full moon shone on him. It was comforting. 

The dream, the sense of familiarity the moment he stepped out of the plane…It all made sense. This could only mean one thing… He was here.

Crawford rubbed his temples. His glasses laid beside a pile of folders he had been going through. He glanced at the clock. It read 4am. 

Schuldich just screamed again in his room. He had already seen it in a vision. Although he tended to act cold sometimes towards the redhead, he actually really enjoyed the company. In all the years they'd known each other, he had never heard a scream like that. Not from Schuldich at least. As he puzzled some more about the things, a new vision visited him. 

Red. Danger. 

Bradly Crawford had a bad feeling about it. He sensed a feeling, one he hadn't experienced in years. 

Fear…

TBC

"It is at night we cry the tears we're afraid to cry during the day. It is at night when they appear and we cannot control them. It is at night when the child in us peek out and cry for it's innocence, lost."

__ __


	4. Süßen Gentian

Notes: Thanks for all the reviews! I hope it still applies and you're all still reading after this little title change stunt of mine. I was changing the title to 'Blutiger Tanz' (Thanks to Eike who pointed this out), when I realized that 'Das Schicksal' was much more appropriate for this fic. 

P.S.: ~~ It's not the writing that's making me slow. (Already sort of wrote the whole fic a year ago) It's the editing that's being a nightmare. More reviews will help me become quicker though! ^.~

Mission #4: Süßen Gentian

Sweet sweet Sunday. My favorite day of the week, right there with it's pal mister Saterday. Saturday meant freedom, preferably dates, definitely girls and most importantly no work. Sunday meant hopping around doing nothing and getting myself bored. Sadly, Weiß' job didn't seem to stop on any of these holidays. I wanted to label Persia as a slave driver. He had the most wicked sense of timing. Whenever the rest of the world was resting, we got to chase the bad guys. It's true that bad guys don't take any time off either, but they don't work two jobs. That left me determined to try and try to skip as many missions as possible in the weekends. It's easy. Get in the good graces of your employer, make a good excuse and you're off the hook. Not having any missions to begin with helped. Today was my lucky day. 

I decided it was time to see more of Tokyo.

The fresh breeze of pineapples greeted me as I entered the park. Sunshine spilled it's endless warmth and light, as the wind cradled the fallen leafs like infants. The pavement was made out of little rocks. They glistened like little diamonds under the light. As you walked more into this miniature forest, you would find a clearing surrounded with sakura trees. It still took a couple of months before the sakura trees would be in full bloom again. Perhaps I should organize a field trip then. The study of sakura trees. 

It was amazing how a place so peaceful, so quiet could actually be found in the center of the Asian market. You would think that the good citizens of Tokyo would need to drive at least 50 miles inland to find anywhere remotely like this. Yet, by amazing good fortune or great planning, it was here. 

Peace, quiet. No monsters or any serial killers running around too!

Paradise on earth.

Ok, maybe a little exaggerated, but it really looked like something out of a picture. Families were having their picnics here. Couples walking hand in hand, very obviously in love. Children running around playing. And a part-time assassin taking a walk. 

A whistle sounded. I looked in the direction of the sound to find a group of kids. They were playing soccer. No frantic yelling parents, trying to cheer their kids on. That's unusual. 

It seemed to be a regular training. A young brunette was giving special instructions to one of the players. He was bouncing the ball like an acrobat and doing all kinds of tricks with it. Wow, I didn't know there was so much potentials with a ball. 

Judging by the height and the build of that body. 

Hey! That's one of my fellow co-workers.

"Hey Ken!" I yelled, while walking closer to him.

He looked up from the ball, eyes all glittering and shining as he recognized me. He sent the boy away and came towards me.

"Konnichiwa Sky! What are you doing here?" 

I smiled amused.

"Nothing much. Just trying to score myself a free coffee, I suppose."

"That can be arranged." He smiled brightly. That's Ken, ladies and gentlemen. Mister Smiley. 

A few minutes later, we sat down on the slightly wet grass. Wet grass, the last remnants of the storm we had the past weeks. Is it smart running around in wet grass? Most likely not. Why else would those kids do it, right? To do that which is forbidden. The logic of youth. 

I took a sip out of my hot cappuccino.

"You play games with these kids, Ken?"

He smiled proudly, when he spoke. 

"You bet. We're planning on going for the first tournaments next year though. I really believe in them."

"But don't you think you're wasting your time with these kids. Chances are almost none that any of them would become a pro." I pointed out. That's me. Mister Practical.

"Perhaps. But they need to get a chance." His voice sounded sure.

"Aren't you afraid they'll end up like you?" 

He turned his head and looked at me questioning.

"How'd you…" A frown settled on his forehead.

"Telepath, remember?" Actually some stuff about him I read off the file Kritikers had. No need to say that out loud though. The Kritikers didn't exactly hand my team mates files to me and said: here, read it. I sort of 'accidentally' stumbled upon them. 

"Oh yeah…"

He remained silent. 

"So aren't you afraid, Ken?" I asked again.

His gaze remained on the kids, his voice soft.

"But Sky. Don't you think they should get the chance? If it wasn't for…Kaze, I would have never gotten any chance either. Yes, the soccer world has it's dark side, but it also got a lot of sunny sides. Besides, how big is the chance that someone will make the same mistake like I did?" A lot, I wanted to say. Looking at the brightness almost completely from his eyes now, I felt sorry for him. The hazel eyes were dark and sad. His voice choked a little at the name.

Did he still feel responsible for the things with Kaze? I mean, come on! It was HE who betrayed you, Ken. NOT the other way around.

"Ken…Do you feel …guilt?" I looked at him. Your surface is carefully spread and thick, Ken. But I'm not a telepath for nothing. 

He hesitated before he answered. Didn't he know that I really dun have a big mouth, although I do tend to act like otherwise. 

"Can't you tell?"

I shrugged. I was trying to not use any of my powers unless I really needed them. Lately, the killer headaches had been bugging me on frequent basis. They were relative to how much I used and how often I used. 

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm trying to act human." I whispered.

He laughed. I grinned.

"Don't we all?"

"So about my question…" I trailed off. 

He looked serious. The humor had left his eyes without a trace.

"What about you?"

I shook my head. Ask a question and get it thrown back in your face. I guess it was only fair.

"Nop. Me, I don't believe in guilt. You can't eat it and it certainly won't pay your bills." I shrugged again. It was the way how I saw things. I never said I always made sense.

He nodded his head, slowly.

"I can't be like you. I feel guilt. If it weren't for me, Kaze would have never died. It was me who killed my best friend. I killed the man who brought me fame and fortune. I was homeless when Kaze found me. He brought me home, introduced me to his manager, our manager. He MADE me!" His frown seemed to have deepened. His hands were clenched into fists.

"You know what? I keep dreaming about him. How he would be bathed in blood and saying he would wait in hell for me." He seemed to be reliving the images vividly as he talked about it. I didn't really know what to say. He was so disgusted with himself. 

"But Ken. He was a human. He was taking you in like any normal person would do who discovers a talent. It was his obligation towards society. You are a human and not his possession. You were not his to use when needed and dumped when it suited him." Hell, I would have taken you in, if I were around. Do you have any idea how good looking you are, Ken? Your sweetness made you an even better bishounen. Did you ever consider the fact that the only reason he took you in was because he had wanted to possess you like a painting? I wanted to say this, but it seemed harsh. 

"That's not true…He made me, so he had the right to break me. It was anger and the feeling of betray that made me kill him, Sky! Those feelings blinded my better judgement. I shouldn't have killed him! You don't kill a friend!" 

I blinked. Did I finally manage to make him angry?

"Look, Ken. It was self-defense. Any court and judge would have found you innocent, if you ever had to go to trail. I mean, it was the instinct of survival. It was either him or you. And you know what, Ken? YOU do not deserve to die and he does. He tried to kill you THREE times! I would have gotten pissed if he only tried once! Perhaps he had been kind to you in the beginning, but he changed. The world of money consumed him so totally that he would have never flinched one bit to step over hundreds of people. He would have been willing to kill, rape, do whatever necessary. Do you know what divides us from wild animals, Ken? Emotions. When you lose them, you seize to be human. He seized to be human a long time ago, Ken. You and nobody on this earth can be blamed for his death. He is the only one to blame."

I studied his face. He had lowered his head and his bangs were covering his eyes. Great. I feel like a bully now.

" Gomen ne, Ken. I didn't mean to make you feel bad…"

He turned his head to me. I blinked. He looked lost. His voice was a little hoarse and shaky.

"He was my only friend, Sky. He was my only friend! Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by your only friend? Do you?"

I frowned. Did he really want to know the truth? 

I answered him with half-truth.

"I haven't been through that and so maybe I don't really have the right to judge. But Ken, you're wrong. Aya, Yohji, Omi. They're your friends. I am your friend too. Those kids are your friends. They all care about you and that makes them your friend. I know what you think, Ken. The answer is no. They don't care about you as their fellow assassin. They are human, some maybe more than others, but still they're all humans. They see a nice guy like you, they like you and they want to be your friend. It is our obligation to be your colleague, but it was never our duty to be your friend. We do that, willingly. So now, stop acting like a whining 90 year old granny and act like Ken, the dude we love." 

I smiled encouragingly at him. He blinked at me and then smiled too. So, we two members of Weiss, were sitting there under a tree and smiling at each other like two dumb love sick puppies. Ok, me starting to feel discomfort here.

"Ken onii-chan! Yamcha said that we couldn't play this way, but I think we could. Can you please help us?" A little boy, probably 7 or 8, was looking pleadingly at Ken.

The boy looked at me weirdly. What? Did I grow any third eye or something?

This is discomforting. He's looking DOWN on me. I got up and looked down at him now. Hmmm… Much better.

Ken was standing as well and looked hesitantly at me and then at the boy. He was apparently having a hard time deciding whether to keep me company or get back to his coaching.

"Go. I still need to pick up a few chicks and making someone happy with sex before I hit home. See ya later, Ken." I waved a goodbye and turned to leave.

"See ya, Sky!" He called out.

"Ken onii-chan. What does 'sex' mean? Is it edible?" The boy's voice sounded behind my back.

I snickered. Ken's face must be hot as a poker by now. He managed to say something like.

"Umm….Sex means ehh, you know how babies are like brought along by storks? Sex is ehh…"

"So sex's like baby storks?" The boy helpfully added. Ken sighed desperately.

"Ehhh….kind of. You know, T.K. I think that your folks would be more suitable to explain this to you, somewhere in the far, very far future."

That was the best proof why I would never have kids. I would never be able to explain things like how 'sex' work to them. Besides, they disliked me and the dislike was mutual.

The sun was setting down. It enveloped the buildings and objects with an orange light. Another sunset. I wondered if Ken would finally come to peace with the whole issue. It really was not his fault. If he didn't find a way to deal with it, he would go mad eventually. Eaten alive by guilt. It wouldn't be pretty and I didn't want to see it happen. 

No use dragging on the past, I always said. I wondered if there'd be a time when I'd start to follow this advice of mine. Someday probably. Right.

Sometimes I wondered why Ken was always acting so clumsy around us. He never did during the missions. Which was why I started to wonder if his clumsiness was pretense or not. There seemed to be two Hidaka's. One who was this perfect assassin and one who would be clumsy enough to screw up everything that was possible to screw up. 

A high childish shriek sounded, quickly followed by the words. "Gomen nasai, Ken nii-chan!!" I caught sight of Ken in the distance, lying down with his face in a pool of mud. Oiy. Well, his clumsiness was definitely not all pretenses. The question remained just how much he did on purpose. 

TBC

"When it rains, heaven's angels are crying. It rains 24/7 here. Apparently, here, the angels are all chopping onions."


	5. Das Ziel des Lebens

Mission #5: Das Ziel des Lebens

"Arigatou Gozaimasu! Please come back soon!" sounded the cheerful voice of Omi. 

Things had been quiet lately. With the exception of the regular thief, robber or other such scum, Tokyo had been free of bad guys. None of my wonderful coworkers were cheering for missions. They were all enjoying the peace. The atmosphere was just too cheerful for my taste. It made me want to puke. I guessed I couldn't really blame them. Every person was entitled to have his or her own opinions and feelings. But damn! It was no fun to be the only one who was bored. It had been weeks since our last mission. My muscles were aching from the lack of workout. If Manx came with a mission, I would be jumping out of joy. 

"Hey Sky, you're drowning the plant." Yohji remarked. 

"Hmm? Oh!" I absently wiped the small pool dry. 

"Well, at least they won't die from thirst." Some snickers from Yohji.

I couldn't seem to concentrate on my work today. Not that I concentrated much on any given day, but still. My thoughts led a life of their own. They pretty much ignored anything I told them to do. Today they decided to keep wandering back to this dream I had some weeks ago. Dreams were meant to be forgotten. If you think about them too much, you will slowly lose your touch with reality. If you ignore them, they will fade before you go to sleep the next morning. I considered that an unwritten rule. It usually applied just fine. However, this particular dream had decided to screw my rule to hell. It was like a photograph imprinted in my mind. A little faded a little around the edges in weeks, but still clear in general. If I closed my eyes, I could still picture it in my mind. Was it even a dream? I didn't know. It seemed so real. 

He had grown quite a bit since the last time we met. But then again, what else was I supposed to expect? That by some divine power he got trapped in the body of a ten year old? Of course he'd grow up. I just really didn't expect him to be that tall with me being so…less tall. 

The dream or rather the nightmare that had visited me so very frequently for the past 14 years. It was the first time this matured version of him appeared in it. What did it mean?

"What's wrong?" Yohji asked. He was lounging in a chair, long legs stretched out in front of him. The sun covered his whole body. It highlighted all the little curves and bows very nicely. Sunglasses were pushed up his eyes to protect him against the light. He sat there in his usual attire of jeans and tank top and looked perfectly at ease. It reminded me of a cat bathing in the sun.

I sat my chair next to his and looked at the almost empty shop. The rush hours had long since passed. It wouldn't be long before it was time to close up the shop. Today Yohji and I were the ones who had to close up. 

"I'm bored." I looked at him and pouted Omi style. 

"Bored, eh?" He chuckled. I would never make the pout to perfection like Omi had. Oh well. 

"Yep. Oh master Kudo, save me!" 

"Ya can clean the basement, tackle the closets and all it's hidden animals."

I raised an eyebrow. "Save, Yotan, not kill. I'm bored, not suicidal." He gave another one of those brilliant laughs. I smiled. His laughs were always sort of contagious. 

"A mission, that's what I needed." Something to distract my mind off dreams and other dark ranting. 

Yohji's body stiffened. 

"Careful what you wish for."

Maybe there was a god after all. Goodbye boredom, hello action. I was flipping eagerly through the folder Manx just handed out. That earned me a few dirty looks. What? 

A male target. Not that old. 40 or so. A German drug lord, blah. Heavily guarded, blah. Yummy. Everything I wished for except for one little detail. Why did it have to be Friday?! I cursed softly. Splendid way to spend my Friday night. Killing people, getting blood on your cloths. Why would anyone prefer that over going out and having fun? I believed the second sounded much better. Too bad I couldn't have it all. 

I frowned. Why did the name of this dude sound so familiar? I'd seen it somewhere before…but where? Herr Kugenschimm. Worked with….! Ah! That's why it sounded so familiar! I saw the name in the blond babe's agenda. Apparently Herr K had been an old college friend of Herr Yamoto. Looked like it was going to be a very interesting evening after all. 

*******************************************************************************

Schuldich was in the driver's seat of the red Mercedes. The red-haired German was quite irritated, when his employer sent Schwarz to protect his ally Kraus Kugenschimm. And all of this, simply because Bradly got a vision of an assassination. He looked angrily to his leader, but his expressions softened. He loved him too much to stay angry with him. It just forced Schuldich to find some other, most definitely more amusing way to pay back. A small evil grin tugged at the corners of his face. Besides, the fact he actually got to drive a car, was something that only came along once in a thousand years. According to Schuldich there were no such thing called traffic laws. Cars were also meant to be driven at high speeds and countless damages to cars were bound to happen. Crawford had found that reason enough to let the German drive as little as possible. Bradly would even consider Nagi, a kid who didn't even have a driver's license, to be a much better driver than Schuldich. He watched the silent American curiously. Crawford was silent of nature and had been even more quiet these past two days. Schuldich had found it quite disturbing. He shrugged. It was most likely nothing important anyway. Crawford had put up his mental shield, one that was too strong to break for most telepaths and almost impossible for Schuldich. 

"Umm Schuldich, the truck?" sounded the soft and yet alarming voice of the youngest of his team. He quickly maneuvered the car out of its very nearly confrontation with a 3000 lbs. vehicle and turned his attention back to the traffic. He knew that his leader and lover would reveal things, when the time came. In the meanwhile he could satisfy with plotting his sweet vengeance. 

*************************************************************************************

I stared into the sky. The darkness had swallowed almost all the stars. Leaving only the moon and one or two stars visible. Aya were to drive us to our mission. Dressed to kill. The way his hair shone under the neon lights of the traffic. Violet eyes that held such a depth. Skin so smooth and white like marble. He would be an angel, if such existed. A fallen angel, sentenced to bring death. Ken accurately examining his bugnuks. Praying that the one he would kill tonight truly deserved it. Omi typing at his laptop with the speed of lightning. Preparing and double checking for the safety of his team members and himself. Yohji played with his wires. Even if he really wanted to go out, he would not desert his team when it needed him. 

I'd been on enough missions with them to know the way they worked. We hadn't exactly spent any time on bonding like one big happy family. They were very close. My arrival was more the intrusion on their privacy than anything. Of course, they tried. Omi, Ken and Yohji were all trying very hard to be nice. Aya wasn't being nice, but he was more tolerant towards the things I dished at him. I got fewer glares. I suppose that was his way of showing his 'kindness'. 

I didn't belong here. That was the problem. No matter how hard they tried, I just didn't seem to fit into their little circle. It'd been months now and I still felt like an outsider, an intruder. You know what? I really didn't care. There were other more important things that I wanted to worry about. So as long as we could stand each other and work together, no one got any right to complain. 

This mission was labeled 'dangerous'. Mainly due to the immense amount of bodyguards the target hired. I guessed none of them knew how big my powers could be. I had been using the minimum of my powers for weeks now, so I had also been happily headachefree. Too bad it was time to change that. I should be able to give them a good show tonight. 

I was quite impressed, to say the least. The bodyguards proved to be a very nice challenge. They were no matches for Weiss, but quite entertaining. 

I tasted their fear and it made me feel powerful. I loved the way sweet power lingered on my tongue. If you ever had a taste of it, you'd never let it go. You'd spend the rest of your days trying to get another taste. The men knew they had sinned and would be punished for it. Yet they fought desperately and hung to life. They were afraid what would come after their deaths and knew we would gladly help them find out. We would be their executioners. 

Most of them killed for the money. A few chased the rushes of adrenaline, just like me. There was a perfect understanding between us. The money was just an extra. We did it because we loved the thrills of adrenaline that will make your whole body tremble and harden. Fighting them was like drinking this dangerous elixir of fear, power and pleasure. It was exciting to kill them. I knew they felt pleasure even when they were bleeding their life away. Death was like a big bang of pleasure. Every time it came, I felt like I was on the verge of drowning in it. It felt good the way sex felt good. 

This excitement, this sense of power, won't make you mad if you ride it. I knew that Ken was the only one who felt some of this pleasure. His problem was that he might just be unstable enough to surrender and let the power ride him. My other teammates were in a sort of trance when they fight. They just fought because they needed to, but something in their characters would never allow them to enjoy it. I was sorry they couldn't feel it. 

The moneymakers. I was rather disappointed when I realized that these pitiful excuses of humans were the only kind left. I liked their fear, but their thoughts repulsed me. Money, money and money. Their life purpose was to live and to have money. The only things that mattered to them. The only thing that existed in their dictionary. Talking about a simple mind. 

I was starting to get annoyed. They weren't our match individually, but together they were starting to form a problem. There seemed to be this endless supply of those people coming out of that door and running at us. What was this? The fucking Roman invasion? Each new wave of guards would simple step over the remnants of their fallen comrades and fight us. Encouraged by the promises of wealth through their comms. Stupid and greedy. 

There were five of us and about fifty of them. Damn, how many did Kugenschimm hire?! We were all covered in blood and tired. The room seemed to keep getting smaller and smaller. The smell of blood filled the air. It was choking me. Oh fuck, we needed to get out of here.

They had decided to change strategies. The guards had formed a perfect circle to surround us and stood ready. I could feel both sides tensing, but neither of us attacked. The moment seemed frozen, but it wouldn't be long. I glanced quickly at the faces of my teammates. They strengthened their grip on their weapons and braced themselves. As a reaction, my own hands had tightened around the hilts of my daggers. I turned my attention to the guards. They were waiting for the signal to attack, waiting for the voice in their ears to let the fun begin. If we fought, we could take down a lot. But in the end, we would still be the ones ending up dead. Well, I supposed it was time to change weapons. I heaved a big sigh and dropped my daggers on the floor to free my hands. Oh goody. I surprised all the people in the room and used it to distract them. My eyes closed and my mind concentrated to form a circle of power. I had to work fast. Our enemies wouldn't wait for me to get ready. 

The trick would be to grill the minds of our enemies and leave my teammates in tact. The power spilled out of my body in a rush. It reached out and short-circuited the brains. I trusted it to disable and most likely kill the guards. If any of them survived the shock, they wouldn't be doing much of anything for the next few months. 

I wasn't tired yet. I just felt a little numb and a little light. My senses dull after using too much of my power. No need to worry about the backlashes of this thing. They would arrive soon enough. I wanted to be home when they arrive. I opened my eyes to find three openly horrified faces looking at me. Only Aya's face remained expressionless. Too bad those violet eyes were enough to betray his feelings. Something tightened in my gut. They were horrified because I killed all this people?!

"Gee, so I guess I should have just let us all die a horrible death." None of them moved. I forced myself to contain the anger. Fuck them all. Ungrateful bastards. I picked up my daggers and turned around to leave. They could finish their damn mission on their own. I was going home. The hell with all of them. 

I heard the door slam open and turned to await whatever would come through. My hands started to tremble and I dropped the bloodied daggers. The target was behind this door, but that didn't matter anymore. The more important thing was that…HE was near. My legs started to move towards the door, to bring me closer to him…

Four men walked into the room. Aya murmured the word 'Schwarz'. So they were the famous Schwarz I had heard so much about. Schwarz, as opposite of Weiss. Schwarz, an extraordinary team that was even stronger than Weiss. But this couldn't be! I heard about the strong telepath of the team. But never did I think that it would be HIM! I dreamt a thousand times how we would meet again. Never was it anything remotely like this. Fate was such an ironic bitch.

I couldn't see anyone but him. My brains didn't register the fact that Weiss was standing behind me, while Schwarz was standing behind him. It just seemed that the world disappeared and all that was left was him and me. His face was shocked with disbelief, a perfect mirror of my own reaction. 

A gasp escaped his lips. 

"Vater!"

TBC

"You can feel happy, you can feel sad, you can feel scared. But no matter what you say or do you can't deny. There's a monster inside each and every one of us." 

On a side note to prevent any misinterpretations. Vater ISN'T a name, it means 'father' in german. 


	6. Nichts ist einfach

Author: Sorry I kept everyone waiting so long. Gomen gomen! I blame it on school, my laziness, school, school and more school. And then vacation. I can rant and rave about that one for hours to come. I am so pissed at the customs control. . They took away all the anime I bought. On some dark day I shall write an evil evil fic about them. 

Sky's relation to Schu will be revealed in this chapter. Don't kill me since this is the longest chapter of this fic I've posted?

Btw. I'd also discovered that my stimulation for people to know more german words seemed to be failing. *sighs* I'll be listing down translations of the titles at the end of each chapter. For those of you who were actually inspired to expand your vocabulary, do proceed!! 

*goes back to remove dust from the rest of my notes* 

Mission #6: Nichts ist einfach

Funny how sometimes the world could seemingly stop. Suspended in air. It's movement captured on pause. How time would just seem to stop or slow-play. Seconds ticking by like hours. During which thousands thoughts would run through your mind and an endless amount of possibilities would lie before you. 

A glazed cage of emotions just broke, spilling all over me. I wanted to hold him and never let him go. The back of my brains was thinking: Oh my god. The front of my brains was thinking: Huh?! I settled for somewhere between confused and shocked. Why the heck was he calling me 'dad'?! Then my brains got over the confusion and the logic part finally kicked in. Of course I looked like dad. It was after all his DNA that had been circulating my blood for the last couple of years. 

His expression changed suddenly. It went from surprised to hard and cruel. Rage and hatred were burning in his dark green eyes, allowing the orbs spark with emotion. And I knew how he realized who I was. My eyes. They had stayed the same black as they were years ago. 

"You!" He growled and clinched his fists. The tall American stopped him when all he wanted was to rush forward. 

Mentally I reached out to him. I wanted to tell him so many things. I collided with a wall. If there were one wall in the whole world I couldn't breach, it would be his. He had always been good in building a mental wall and the years only made him better. I almost wept for the desperation that built up in my body. How could I ever to tell him the truth, if he refused to listen?!

Anger and hurt at the rejection crawled up and spread itself through my whole being. A tactic that had worked in the past came to mind. I was not about to give up so easily. 

I wanted to tackle him and beat some sense out of him. That should be able to get him to listen to me. Strong arms went around my waist and the owner pinned me to the ground with his weight. I turned angrily to face whomever the evil perpetrator was and met with emerald eyes.

"Yohji, let the fuck go of me!" I yelled. 

He just shook his head and tightened his grip. "Can't, Sky. You're not their match, you can't fight them."

Yohji had completely misinterpreted my intentions. Why would I want to fight my sibling? I just wanted to give him a few bruises and make him talk to me. 

"You don't understand!"

I continued to squirm, trying to free myself. Then the others joined in and I had no chance. All I could do was watch how he retreated with his teammates, never looking back. 

The trip back consisted mostly of me using every ounce of my self-restraint to not perform some serious damaging on Yohji. It was all his fault. He shouldn't have stopped me when he did. That stupid Kudoh. And he thought he did me a huge favor. 

I aimed for his right eye and punched. He doubled with pain, one hand going up to cover his eye.

"Don't ever stop me again, Kudoh!" Punching him did make me feel better. 

"What the hell did you do that for.?!" He looked outraged, not understanding why he had deserved such treatment. 

"Because you…" And I stopped. I couldn't tell him, or the rest of Weiß. To them Schwarz was pretty much their archenemies. What was I supposed to say? Gee guys, you see the guy you hate the most is actually my brother. I wasn't actually trying to kill him. I would never try to kill him. 

"You what? Tell me, Sky!" The look in his eyes was so sincere. It made me want to tell him, for just the tiniest split of second. But I couldn't. 

"I'm sorry, Yotan. I was just frustrated I couldn't kick some Schwarz ass for all the times those bastards made your lives miserable." It wasn't a total lie, it was a carefully selected part of the truth. 

I sighed and pushed him down into one of the chairs in the small kitchen. I opened the door of the fridge and looked, and looked. We had run out of ice. Time for improvising then. 

I handed Yohji a peace of meat wrapped in a towel as a peace offering. It was better than nothing! Right?

His eye had already turned into that nice shade of red that promised to be swollen like a balloon in the next day or two to come. He accepted it with a grunt. 

"I'm going to bed." I was starting to feel a bit pity for poor Yotan. After all, it really wasn't his fault things had turned out the way they did. How to make up?

"I'll switch shifts with you, so you can get some extra sleep and make yourself presentable." I announced before closing the door. It's a shame that was the only way of amendment I could think of at the moment. God knows I hate morning shifts. 

I almost made my way upstairs when my head exploded in pain. I stumbled up the last few steps and had to lean against the wall for support. My vision had filled itself with gray. I had trouble focusing. Oh god, not now. Don't let them see me like this. I prayed silently. The white wall offered some coolness to my head and more importantly support without which I would have most likely fallen on my ass. Just a couple of meters before I would reach the safe haven of my room. Just a couple more steps. Dammit, for crying out loud. At the current moment it might just as well have been miles instead here. When I finally reached my door, I was faced with having to open and unlock the door. Stupid locks, never worked when you needed them to. My head hurt a little less. It had almost dulled just a little. It usually took longer for the pain to dull. It allowed me to finally open my door. I slammed it shut, not bothering to lock it again. My bedroom. My pills. Almost there now. That was when another wave of that same skull-burning headache hit me. This time I allowed myself to give in to the darkness…

***************************************************************************

Yohji was wrong. The look in Sky's eyes wasn't one of hatred. It was one of love. Sky loves Schuldig. Aya would bet a month of his salary on that piece of information. Now the question would be: what the heck should he do with this wonderful news?

Did Kritiker send them this obnoxiously annoying mix of Yohji and Ken's worst qualities just so they could test their loyalties? Or heaven forbids, that the most wonderfully organized investigating unit was really kept in the dark? Being annoyed a lot was really starting to uplevel his sarcastic nature. Aya groaned as he deposited his nicely bundled 'working cloths' into the pile of cloths, extra bloody. Their special laundry cleaner should be passing by somewhere during the day. 

The light in the kitchen seemed harsh and blinded him just momentarily as he stepped inside the kitchen. The smell of freshly baked pancakes greeted him. 

"Ohayo Aya-kun." Omi offered one of his trademark smiles. Aya nodded in response. He could live and function quite nicely with only 3 hours of sleep. But pretending to be actually cheerful was too much. Especially since he didn't feel the need of acting, when he wasn't lacking sleep. 

A half eaten pancake still oozing with the unnecessary huge amount of strawberry sauce proofed the hasty departure of Ken, whom one could find coaching his kids as usual. Even if Aya had wanted to choose today to reveal Sky's secrets in a full out unofficial meeting, at least two of his teammates weren't present. Speaking of which, were was Yohji? He was supposed to be opening the shop with him today. That was when the small note on the fridge caught his eye. 

__

Aya,

Sky switched shifts with me. Go bang on his door, not mine!!!

Yohji

P.S.: You can unmistakingly recognize the door by the sign 'jerk' on his door. 

One delicate brow raised in question. He looked at Omi for an explanation. The youth just shrugged his shoulders, clearly not having a clue either. It was quite…amusing. 

Aya thanked Omi for the food and ate his breakfast in silence, considering his options. He finally decided to give Sky a chance to explain himself before he dragged him out and accused him of treachery before the others. Kritiker could damn well wait. Staring at the written sign that had been absent just 24 hours before, Aya wondered briefly how Yohji could act like such a child sometimes. 

***************************************************************************

I opened my eyes to the sound of someone calling my name. It was deep and male. He would really sound great singing those modern love songs. His slim body dancing slowly to the rhythm of the music. Wait. What the heck was I thinking?! I only knew one person who sounded like that and hell would freeze over before you'll ever hear him sing. I was awake and wished I had stayed unconscious. The headache was there. Annoying as hell, but bearable. The mindblowing stage had come and gone with me being passed out. I do remember passing out on the floor. I wonder how I got back in the bed. Silence fell as I pondered, waiting for my vision to stop spinning. Deep violet filled my sight as it cleared and stabilized. 

"You're awake."

Talking about stating the obvious. I swallowed twice before mustering one of my sarcastic remarks, always ready to come at my bidding. God, my mouth felt dry. 

"Gee, what does it look like?" My master level skills of sarcasm were always best in the morning. 

Aya was glaring disapprovingly at me. He got a glass and let me drink. I drank a few zips of the…something. It tasted bitter. I made a face.

"Really now. There's no point in poisoning me. What the heck is in that glass?"

He settled the glass on the nightstand and sat in the chair I used for clothing. 

"It's coffee, mixed with some painkillers."

I frowned at him. "Water would've been fine."

He shrugged. Aya was the only one who didn't drink coffee and I was the only one who didn't drink Yohji's idea of coffee. Yotan liked to put coffee as black as possible. It was his equal of a wake-up call. Me, I liked my coffee mixed with plenty of sugar and cream. You'd think that living with someone for months, they'd know your habits by now. Apparently, Aya didn't. 

"Aya, I like my coffee with sugar and cream. Could you please remember that for future references?" He glared at me. He must be thinking about how I was being very ungrateful. 

"How are you feeling?" 

I shrugged and winced. Not moving sounded like a really good idea right now. My whole body hurt. From head to toe. 

"I think I'll skip the aerobics today."

"Why did Schuldig call you dad?"

I looked at him, my eyes widening out of surprise. Definitely not the question I had been expecting. Great. Chances had been very slim that any of my team mates knew German. Yeah, right. 

"I'm impressed. When did you learn how to speak German."

He shrugged gracefully. 

"Only a few words."

His face returned back to it's previous state of perfect blankness. Even his eyes were void of any emotions. Not a trace of anger. But I knew he had to be. I sure would be if I lived with someone for months and suddenly find out he could very well proof to be an enemy. 

I was buying time to decide what I wanted to say. The truth or a lie. 

He narrowed his eyes. "Tell us about Schuldig. Do you know him?" Oh look! I guess he wasn't the only curious cat in the group. 

I sighed. "Yes. " I blinked. What I wanted to say was: I've never met him in my entire life! What came out was this. I fought to keep my face blank. 

"Are you close?"

"Yes." I frowned. I was sure I wanted to say no. It was like my mouth no longer belonged to me. What he hell was going on?!

"Aya…what did you do to me?" I looked him in the eyes and willed him to tell me. His eyes stayed their state of blankness.

"Nothing." He lied right into my face. 

"Bull!" I was getting pissed. Then I realized.

"The coffee! You fucking basterd, you put something in the coffee!" His face flushed red with anger. I guess he didn't like being called names. Well, I had more rights to be angry.

The coffee had been black to hide the taste of the drug or whatever. Aya was the kind of person who watched things in everyday life very sharply. He should have known the way I liked my coffee.

I laughed bitterly.

"Gee, let me guess. You wanted me to give you information that would be guaranteed truth, so you slipped some truth pill or whatever into the coffee pretending you didn't know the way I preferred my coffee? Ya know, the most recent versions of those don't have any taste. You should ask Kritikers to get you some of those. This way your won't get caught in the act. Not so soon anyway." 

I closed my eyes. I could feel tears forming underneath them. God, don't let him see me cry. 

"Get out! Get the fuck out and stay the fuck away from me!" I heard him get out of the chair. Dammit, leave Aya! Get out before I can no longer hold down my tears. 

I felt the faintest brush of cloth against my face and opened my eyes. The teardrops fell as I stared into his face. He had moved to the bedside. His eyes were no longer hard, but soft. I wiped away the tears. No, this has got to stop. Pull yourself together, Sky! You really don't want to cry in front of him. Now he would call you a wimp for the rest of your uncertain life. 

But the look in his eyes was so sincere, so…human, so…inviting. I fell against him, burying my face in his shirt. His arms closed hesitantly around me as I clung to him. Later it occurred to me how pathetic and odd it must have looked. A grown man hugging his team mate in his bed. At the time, I couldn't care less. All I knew was the warmth and comfort his embrace offered. The tears started again and this time they just wouldn't stop. 

TBC

"Life is a bitch. What else is new?"

"To be strong is to admit you are weak."

*grins mischieviously* I also mentioned misinterpretations in the way so people knows 'Vater' means dad and isn't some kind of German name , never said anything about it being true…

A big thank you to all the people who are still reading this! Without you, this fic would have been deposited on the pile of 'given up' a long time ago. ^^ 

*gives out cookies to the people who are reading*

I shall be back soon! Promise! 

Translations:

Mission 1: A new member

Mission 2: The first assignment

Mission 3: They have arrived

Mission 4: Sweet Gentian

Mission 5: The goal of life

Mission 6: Nothing is simple


	7. Enthüllung und Urteil

Mission #7: Enthüllung und Urteil

Crying always made me feel tired. I know, it's silly. It's not like I ran a couple of hundred miles or done something else that could be called sporting. But it's still exhausting. So it wasn't exactly a huge surprise that I woke up with my last memory being this: falling asleep in Aya's arms. I was rather disappointed to wake up alone. Not that I really would have expected the ice king to suddenly become a mother hen and stay with me. Wait, he did leave a note. 'Tell us'. Two simple words. Screw him! That's easy for him to stay. 

I sighed. I hated to admit it, but it was actually a very reasonable request. Shit. 

The sky outside had darkened while I was asleep. Only artificial lights burned outside. 

Taking a shower sounded good. It'll gimme time to plan out my speech. Looking into the mirror and have two puffy eyes looking back at me was another good reason to do so. I looked like I'd been stung by bees and was now experiencing a hypersensitive reaction. 

I hesitated before stepping into the hot shower. Why? I smelled like Aya. The subtle hint of some expensive cologne and roses. Aya always smelled like roses from spending way too much time with those damn flowers. Just standing here still, the sweet senses reminded me of his comforting warms. A small part of me wanted to feel it again, the precious feeling of safety. But just how big was the chance something like that would happen twice? Very very not likely. They don't call something a miracle for nothing. 

The moment of intimacy between us had definitely passed. Aya was acting cold again towards me as always. In a way it reassured me more than anything. At least I knew that to him I was still the irritating Sky and not a broken man. I couldn't and wouldn't be able to read their minds for at least another day. The look on their faces would be the only thing betraying their emotions. Gee, thanks Aya. Perfect timing. 

Ken and Omi were seated quietly in the two-seater, while Aya occupied the chair next to Ken. They were worried and wanted to know why I gathered them here in the mission room. Yohji was leaning against the wall with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. His right eye was decorated with the colorful bruise I gave him. I motioned for him to sit with the rest. 

Slowly they had started to look at me differently. I was no longer the new mysterious member who was assigned to them. Instead I was on my way of becoming a member of their team, their family. But how would they look at me after I tell them the truth? The tension of things unspoken hung in the air. The muscles in my guts tightened. The sign that I was way beyond the point of normal nervousness. Somewhere along the lines of 'nervous enough to jump out the window or do something else just as crazy'. It was funny how I looked like I was standing trials here. My teammates, sitting right opposite me, would be the jury I have to convince. 

Well, no use to delay the execution.

My voice was surprisingly steady when I spoke. "I have gathered you all here for a simple reason. I'm about to ask of you an unusual request. But before that I need to tell you something of my life." I was addressing to all of them, while my eyes had unconsciously come to rest on Aya. I wanted to catch his reactions when I tell him this. His reaction seemed somehow more important than anyone else's. Probably because he was the only one who had some vague idea about my request. 

"I was born in a little house in München in the early morning of a cold September morning. My family wasn't wealthy, but it was loving. Our parents worked hard to feed their three children. I had a twin brother named Rekka who was twenty minutes older than I am and a little sister who was three years younger. My brother and I… We had always been close and were both very protective of our little sister. We would beat anyone that dared to hurt her in any way. My brother already showed signs of strong telepathic abilities at the age of six, while I only showed a little of it when I reached the age of 8. He could read people's mind and memories, while I could only catch small glimpses of what the peoples thoughts. Our powers were handy. But they were also to be our doom. 

In the summer before we turned nine, we first cursed the powers that were ours. In the afternoon of one day in July, two black limousines and dozens of other black cars arrived at our door. Two Japanese crime lords stepped out of the limousines. They had a telepath with them. Their men seized our parents, our sister and made them knee in front of us, while others held us in their iron grip. Two bullets ended the life of our parents, who tried nothing but to touch us. We wept for the loss. The telepath whispered something in the crime lords' ears and I was released. I rushed to my sisters' side and hugged her tightly in my arms. The crime lord called 'Yamoto-sama' went to us and violently separated me and my sister. I felt deep hatred towards this man and vowed silently to kill him one day. 

He spoke to me the following words: " You know that you can't defeat me. The life's of your siblings I lay in your hands. You must make a choice. Either you kill your sister and both you and your brother will be spared…. Or you don't kill her and all three of you will be killed. Take this gun to end the life of your own or your sister." He gave me the gun and smiled while doing it. My hatred grew. The gun weighed heavy in my hands. Should I kill one and save one or should I not kill and we all die? I looked at the misty eyes of my beloved sister and I looked at the deep green comforting eyes of my brother. My baby sister who was just 5 year old and yet understood the danger we were in. Their eyes were saying the same thing: kill me. Both were willing to sacrifice themselves to save the other. I made a choice that day, one that I've doubted for the past years. Hot tears fell on my cheek, when I whispered "Es tut mir leid". I put the gun against my sister's forehead. Yamoto stopped me before my shaking hand pulled the trigger. He got hold of my sister and me and pulled us to the other end of the yard. He pulled us out of the concerning eyes of my brother. He gave the gun to me again and told me to shoot. I was even more trembling then before, but I finally did it. I don't remember pulling the trigger. But I do remember her small yellow dress turning the color of black. 

I killed my sister with a single bullet in the heart. She died quickly, my beloved one whom I didn't want to see suffer. Then I, covered under her blood, joined my brother. First he couldn't believe that she was dead. But I sent him the image of her covered under her own blood and he had to face the truth. He cursed me for all he's worth and screamed her name. I bowed my head in shame. Before we were separated, I looked at him. I saw the hate in his accusing eyes and turned away. He hated me for killing her, even when the other way was death to us all. His hate still remained, even after all these years…" I had talked fast, sticking mainly to the facts. Wishing secretly that this will make the pain last shorter. But I was wrong. I closed my eyes and shivered as the images of that day reappeared in my mind. So very vivid they were, so very vivid they had remained…

I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes to see Omi, offering me a sad smile. I managed to give him a grateful smile. I looked at each one of them. To my surprise it was pity and compassion they felt for me instead of the loathing and disgusted looks I expected. It was surprising to see Aya, the one who always acted the most severest, feel pity for me. I continued my story.

"We were separated by the two crime lords. One of them being Yamoto Shinjirou and the other being Takatori Reiji, whom you've encountered on several occasions." "Takatori" Aya mumbled. His eyes flashed anger at the mention of his worst enemy. The one who took everything he ever cared about away. Perhaps it's a disgrace to speak badly of the dead, but Takatori most certainly deserved it. "Yes. The entire under world is controlled by their two families. Yamoto controlled Europe and Japan, while Takatori's territory was Asia. The Takatori's were slightly powerful then the Yamoto's at that time. That was also the reason why my brother, the strongest of the two of us, was to be taken by Takatori and Yamoto took me, the less strong one. I could only suspect what happened to my brother, by the few visions I received from him. Though I doubt he intentionally did that, for he did not know I could sense things over such a distant. It seemed that Takatori did everything to make him obey him. He was tortured both mentally and physically to create the powerful psychic you see today. I was taken to an underground laboratory to train as well. Perhaps it was just cowardliness that prevented me from ending my miserable life. After years of training, my powers grew immensely. I had even discovered a new one that my brother does not have, telekinesis. I became their bloodhound, their servant, one of their best agents. A year ago Yamoto Kanryou, only son of Yamoto Shinjirou, transferred my position to Japan. About 2 months ago he had gathered some information about Persia and wanted me to investigate further on the issue. I found out the location of your boss, went there and got caught like a mouse in a trap. I was given the choice to either join you or spend the rest of my life in jail. Since the second one obviously sounded much less attractive, I chose door number one and landed here. Your boss even found a dummy for me and convinced my former employer that I died in a car accident."

"What happened to your bro?" Yohji asked.

"About ten years ago, they found out I could feel him no matter where he was. That's when they implanted a small device in my head to block his signal. I haven't sensed anything from him since then. That is, until a few days ago. Yesterday, I had seen him for the first time ever since our separation." I trailed off. 

"Yesterday…you gotto be kidding me here. No way…" It would have been funny to see the baffled face of Ken as his logic popped out and the truth dawned. Gasps of wonder filled the room. 

"Yes. Schuldich is Rekka. This is why I wanted to ask you this…I want you to spare Schuldig's life. I know this is hard for you, especially after your encounters with him. But he is innocent." 

Silence had never seemed to last so long. 

Finally, it was Yohji who spoke first. "Schuldig isn't innocent, Sky. It may not be his fault how he's become this way, but the truth remains. He's killer. On the other hand, he may be forced into doing this. I can only promise to not kill him unless it's self defense, but he should repent for all the people he has killed." His green eyes looked sympathetic when he spoke the words. It was what I thought he'd say. 

"That's good enough, Yohji. I understand how hard it must be. Ken? Omi?" Omi was the one whom I expected to protest the most. Schuldig did cause the death of Ouka indirectly. 

"Umm. I agree with Yohji." Ken hesitated as he looked at Omi, who had been silently looking down at his hands. 

Omi tilted his head to reveal a tear-stained face. "I am happy for you, Sky-kun. He is your family. I know what it's like to have family who turns out to be your enemies. I really hope he's innocent. For you."

"Arigatou…Omi" The only words that seemed appropriate. I knew how much that must have pained the kid. Gomen, Omi. 

"It's late, we've got work to do tomorrow." Typically Aya's way of ending an emotional moment. Yohji walked out of the door, after giving me an everything-is-gonno-be-allright glance and a typical yotan smile. Ken and Omi hesitantly followed his example, leaving only Aya and me. I gave them a sheepish grin to reassure them that Aya was not going to cause me any bodily harm. At least I hoped.

I expected Aya's resistance. I liked his silence any less. It usually meant he was just plotting to explode at me. But I would be ready.

"What do you say, Aya? Gonna give me a whole lecture on how Re… Schuldich is our enemy and one of the dark beasts who needs to be hunted down?" I mocked him. Tell me what I expected to hear, Aya.

He shook his head. His back faced me when he spoke. Why won't you look me in the face, Aya?

"I won't. But think about what you will do when you meet him the next time, Sky. You may not want to kill him, but what will he do?" And with that, he just left. I stood there, mouth wide open like an idiot from surprise. He didn't protest at all. Wow. That was one reaction I would have never guessed in a million years. 

I looked outside and a full moon greeted my sight. I held my hand against the smooth glass of the window. The smooth surface of my ring shone faintly under the mystic light of the moon, while the twin stones absorbed the light. Aya's questions, playing over and over again. What will you do? What will he do? Damn you, Aya. You and your wonderful skill of suggesting things I could have lived just fine without. 

Is this what you wanted to hear? I don't know, Aya. I really don't know. 

"Being siblings, sharing the same blood will forge a bond. Sharing the same womb makes the bond even stronger. Can you ever really sever this?"

Translation title: revelation and judgement. 


	8. Ihr Spiegel

Merry X-mas and happy new year! And here is Schu's POV on the whole family get together. Hope I didn't keep all my loyal readers waiting for too long. This chapter is my x-mas present for you! 

Sky: loyal readers? Where??

HH: -.-;; omae wo korosu…

Sky: ^^v no you can't. You still need me for the rest of this fic.

HH: ;_;

Mission #7: Ihr Spiegel

"Scheisse! Scheisse! Scheisse!" Schuldich cursed as he threw his door shut. He looked into the mirror and saw not the reflection of his own, but one just as familiar. The long red hair flowing gently around the slightly tanned face. The big wondering black eyes. Schuldich grabbed the first object he saw and threw it, shattering the mirror into unfixable little pieces. Shattered and unfixable, just like his heart. 

But the truth was there to bark and bite him. For the first time in years he felt whole again. He saw the only family he had. All of this, it couldn't be any more wrong in his eyes. 

He wasn't supposed to feel like this. He wasn't supposed to see the face that he had cursed for the past years. He wasn't supposed to feel any happiness at all towards that person. Hatred should have been the only thing he felt. Hatred, resentment, anger. But not happiness! And yet…and yet he felt a joy, even if it was only for a second. Then he remembered the vow he made and it became easy to feel all the feelings he should feel. This cursed life he led, it was all thanks to him. If Bradly didn't pull him away from there, he would have killed him. Schuldig was very surprised to feel the sense of power emanating from his one true enemy. So he couldn't use his powers. There are more ways to kill one slowly and painfully without imploring any supernatural powers. Farfarello is an expert on that area. 

Schuldig laughed bitterly at himself. He should have known. A scum like him always knew ways to survive. Why would Schuldig care whether he's alive or dead? If he was alive, then Schuldig would kill him soon. And if he was dead, then it would save Schuldig a lot of trouble. Either way it doesn't really matter. The next time they meet, one of them wouldn't leave the battle alive. 

The door opened and Crawford stepped in. He was still wearing his suit, even this late at night. A weary and concerned look was on his face. "Aber Bradley! It's not Armageddon yet." Crawford sat down on the opposite of Schuldich and started to speak. His voice was low and even contained a little sense of emotion, which was highly rare. "Do you want to talk about it, Schu?"

"Why would I want to do such a thing like that?! There's nothing to talk about. I had the opportunity to actually make the person responsible suffer for all the things I've been through and was stopped by you. I'm fine. Everything is peachy fine." To emphasize his sentence, Schuldig started to flip through the newest edition of Playboy. Not really seeing any of the pictures. 

Hands gently, but firmly pulled the magazine away. The same long and graceful hands held Schuldig in a tight embrace. Schuldig's body tensed, but then relaxed. The German rested his head on the warm chest of his lover and heard the expected request. "Tell me." Schuldig sighed. He has never shared the story of his life before Sanctus with anyone before. Not willingly anyway. It would be painful, but he needed to do this. He needed to do so because he needed Bradley to know the reason why he can never forgive his own flesh and blood. Why above all things, his goal from now on would be to kill him. 

The story came. Words accompanied by images. A real visual experience. Not knowing that about the same time, in another part of town, the exact same story was told. Images of Schuldig's happy careless childhood came. Images of so many intimate and loving moments. Images of that dreadful day, the day that changed his whole life. However then it was the moment, when the beginnings of different stories were to be told. The story that could only be told by the one whom experienced it. It's like a path that splits in two. Only the walker could tell you the way they went. 

Schuldig shared his memory for the first time in so many years. He spoke softly.

"The day Hanna died, my baby sister, was the day when my world came crumbling down. The one person I would give my life for had died in front of my eyes, while I couldn't do a damn thing. Fate's got a real bitchy sense of irony. The person I loved killed by a person I loved.

From that moment I made myself a vow. I would live and let my power grow. I would live simply for one thing, revenge. Death to the one whom killed her with his hands, even though I loved him. Death to the one whom commanded her death to be executed. I had to wait time and opportunity though. That asshole Takatori took me away from the two people I hated the most. He took me to Tibet. I was frustrated when I was brought to the training grounds of the Tibetan temple. It was much more difficult to kill someone who's on the other side of the planet. You've been there yourself. It is the place where Estet recruit raw talents. Those old hags just love putting headquarters in the middle of nowhere. But I suppose you just can't train a new pyrokinetic without burning the whole city down. 

So I trained and trained. The good thing was that effectively upped my power level and got me transported to Sanctus, our lovely home in the Swiss middle of nowhere. I had also developed into my charming 13 year old self by then. 

I was being a young brat and your average teenager who didn't like the word obey. So the Arshloch locked me up for weeks in the dark dungeon where he occasionally came to beat me up. The only thing that made me stay alive, the only thing that made me endure all the sufferings, was my vow. 

You were shocked when we first met. But you gotta admit, your timing really sucked. I just got released that day. A dirty, beaten and hungry kid, who miraculously increased his powers, while his body was in agony. The concern I saw in your eyes almost made me weep. It melted my heart and that moment I fell in love with you. Remember how our love grew? You taught me to obey and even flatter Takatori, so it would save me injuries. For months I lived in a blissful dream and knew nothing but love. Until the night when I found you beaten. You told me you accidentally fell, but I knew who was the cause of your injury. I woke up from my illusion and knew the world was still just as cruel. I also discovered that love and revenge CAN coexist. 

For the past years I knew it would be a matter of time to take my revenge, just a question of when I will see my enemies again. So it would be better just to wait. You knew he was coming, ne Liebling? That's why you've been so caring these past few days. It's ok. I do not blame you. Sure, I'm still pissed. But I know you only did it, because you wanted to save me from pain. Everything will work out, Bradley. I am a cat with nine lives. I'll kill him and take my revenge. Ich bin Schwarz, weißt du noch?" Schuldich kissed his lover, lips just touching for the briefest of moments. 

"Go to bed now, Liebling. It's late now and you need your rest. Gute Nacht, süsse Träume." 

Before Crawford had any chance of speaking, he found himself escorted outside and standing in front of a closed door. Crawford was worried. Even if his lover acted like there was no big deal about it, he could see the doubts and sadness in his eyes. He knew the wounds of the heart were opened again. It was at times of doubt the enemy strikes and defeats you. Crawford knew that the only thing he could do was making sure Schuldig won't die. He opened the door to his apartment and got the vision again. The same one he had before. However, it seemed to be a bit more detailed then before. Danger. Red/Orange hair. Blood. A falling body. This vision puzzled and distressed him. It definitely involved Schuldig. 

Schuldich walked to the window. He hadn't been able to sleep at all. Now the light of the moon attracted him, like a magnet. He felt himself drawn towards it. He noticed it was a full moon. Some long buried memory came back to him. His legs carried him to the little sport bag that had been put away almost carelessly under the bed. His hands pulled the bag into the little amount of light from the window and went on to search for something within. He soon found what he was searching for. It was a small velvet bag. His right hand went to conjure up the content. When his fist opened, light reflected on a ring. It looked like two rings that were melted together, thus causing the two parts to be reflections of each other. The surface of aluminum shone brightly under the pale moonlight, while the two stones eagerly absorbed the colors. 

**************************************************************************

An impressively sized manila folder was lying on the desk in front of Yamoto Kanryuu. 'Sanctus secret archive' was written on the cover. 

"Was this everything you could get?" 

"Yes, according to our source it was everything known to the organization." Judging by the frown on Yamoto's face, Mina could say with almost certainty that her boss was plotting something. 

She had almost exhausted all her sources, but had been quite satisfied with the result. Only a selected few had ever entered the hidden archive and library of Sanctus and even less managed to get out. 

"Thank you, that was all for now." That was her cue to leave. She bowed respectfully and left. It didn't really matter her who ruled Japan, she got paid well enough. Her worries were more along the lines of whether her new pair of pumps had arrived from France and if that cute guy Yohji had called her back. Speaking of which. She had accidentally seen the picture of Schuldig's father and it reminded her of the idiotic waiter she encountered at the party. Her beautiful Italian gown had been totally ruined, but the evening had not ended too badly with Yohji in her bed. She still needed to write the complaint letter to the management. 

The expensive leather chair made small noises when he leaned back. The file had confirmed his suspicion. Sakuya and Schuldig were closely related. They were twins, but their feelings towards each other couldn't be any more different. Apparently, Schuldig or rather Rekka's psychiatric report shows that he is driven by his hatred of his twin. Sakuya on the other hand would be driven by guilt. 

One telepath would be handy, but two telepaths would be a force to be reckoned with. Telepaths were known to be able to combine powers when related. Meaning, together they can do the job of more than ten telepaths individually. It will be very useful when the time comes to eliminate the only thing he found standing in him and his way to become dictator in Japan, Kritiker. 

But their powers must be finely tuned to work properly. While the guilt will mean very little resistance on Sakuya's side, the hatred may overpower the lesser telepath and render him powerless or worse. It will be a gamble. One that Kanryuu was eager and more than willing to take. But in order to do so he must get his little Sakuya back first. Timing would be essential and now wasn't the time. His little 'Rubin' needed to gain more trust in his new team before his sudden departure would unbalance the team and thus Kritiker. Getting his little telepath back would be no problem. None at all. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards in a twisted smile. 

TBC

"A priest and a chemistry teacher both report before the portal of heaven. The gatekeeper warmly welcomes the chemistry teacher into heaven and makes the priest wait. The priest asks: Why does he get to go inside before me? I have dedicated my whole life for God and he was just a teacher. The gatekeeper answered: Because, dear priest, he made more people pray than you did by making really difficult tests."

Title translation: Your mirror


	9. Gestohlene Kraft

HH: Ah, yes. Eh. *runs out of excuses to use for the delay* Ya see.*trails off and looks into my notebook on 'how to weasel your way out of an angry mob'* Happy belated V-day! ^^;; Enjoy the chapter! *quickly takes off* *comes back and realizes something* Almost forgot. MANY thanx for all the reviews. I love ya'll!! Yeah, I screwed up uploading last chapter. The good thing that came out of it is that I got more reviews! XD Maybe I should try this trick more. I wanted to change it, but ffnet was threatening to delete my whole fic along with the reviews if I erased the last chapter. -.-;;; To be honest, I've been having some health problems lately. Not serious enough to directly die yet. But annoying, to say the least. The plot also needed some more poking.  
  
On a side note: Yeah, I know my English Grammar dun rule. And to be honestly, I really can't seem to find anything wrong in it myself. Result: the following cry-out. Is anyone interested in beta-reading my fics? The perk: You get to read this fic and all the other fics WAY before the actual post. The downside: You need to put up with yours truly moaning and whining about everyday life. Just mail me at touga_kiryuukun@yahoo.com or aim me: Tougakiryuukun  
  
P.S.: If I dun find a beta-reader from lack of volunteering, I guess you all just have to put up with my grammar faults and all. ^^v  
  
Mission Interlude: Gestohlene Kraft  
  
Sometimes, the blood ended up in your mouth. No, not my own. Other people's. Blood that belonged to the dark beasts of the night. I have learned something very important tonight: Never stand in the proximity of Aya when he decides to go and behead some guy. The blood from neck arteries has a tendency to spray around, a lot. This explained the reason why I was covered with blood from head to toe and beating everybody else in the run for the shower. It seriously sucked to share a shower. A sink just wasn't big enough to give me a good cleanse. No, we still had hot water by the time I stepped outside. I'm not THAT inconsiderate. At least I think Omi still gets to finish his warm shower. Can't promise anything about the other three though. I sat down on the couch facing the window and brushed the wet hair. Hairdryers were for sissies. That and it always took me way too long to blowdry my hair. Brushing was an agonizing experience as well, but I loved my hair too much to cut it short. The way the hairdressers always jerked at the hair when they brushed it helped as well.  
  
The sky was turning into a wonderful gray-tinted blue, promising the sun and the beginning of another day. The hand that held the brush stopped in mid-stroke. I blinked in surprise. The reflection that greeted me on the glass was my father's. I can't really remember how my family looks like anymore. Small details lingered in my mind. Pieces of a puzzle that never looked whole. I remember how Hanna used to cry because she disliked the color of her hair. The dimple that would become visible every time my mom smiled. The fine details of their faces had faded over the years, because the only family picture I kept had been lost. Rekka was right. I looked like our dad and it even made sense. It wasn't just the hair color like I thought for the past few years. It was everything. From the shape of my eyes to the curve of my mouth. I was an exact copy of him. Those crazy scientists at the Arena must be proud. The brush resumed its slow movements, working its way to smooth the hair. My mom loved my father's hair. The fullness of it, how every single hair seemed to lead a life on its own. Then, there is of course the incredibly rare color. How the red would be tinged purple under the right light. She would always joke about how his hair made more women jealous than she ever could. I wrapped a thin strand around my fingers. Around and around. The last time I saw my father, his hair had been matted with blood.  
  
It's not exactly a common thing for people's hair to change color this dramatically. Not in a natural way that is. Sure, you can always dye it, but the roots will always show or you need to redye it constantly. Me, I just woke up one day and thought: By golly, it's a miracle. I went from a brunette to a redhead over night. Yeah right. It had been an actual process. First there were little fashionable red spots almost invisible under a curtain of blackness. Slowly, all the roots turned red and the red replaced all the black. The scientists who had messed with my DNA by combining little pieces of it with my dad's DNA were not too surprised. They called it a miner side effect, nothing that would interfere with my newly acquired ability. It had been bizarre at first. Just seeing this hair reminded me so much of my dad. It's not normal that a son grows his father's hair. Not when he was born with black hair anyway. But then, nothing has been normal for me since that day my parents died The thing I miss the most is just talking to him. Of course I miss my mom as well, but I think mom always favored Hanna above us. So it was our dad who usually took us to fishing trips, camping trips and stuff like that. Or he'd just take one or both of us into the study room and then tell us stories. He'd also answer questions we had. Silly questions of course. Like, dad, why can't we have the moon in our room? He was the world to us. The world, our childhood, had ended that day with his death. Countless times I have wanted to ask him for advice and guidance. Only silence replied. But when I stood there watching the sunset, I could close my eyes and pretend. I could ignore the busy sounds of the people around me and let my imagination free. The distant sound of the ocean would be him trying to tell me the secrets of the world. I will never stop missing him.  
  
Author's note: I know, it was really really short. But it was more of an explanation than a real chapter. @.@ Hopefully, I've fully explained the whole Sky-looking-like-his-dad thing now. 


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